


Impromptu Adoption For Dummies (a guide to taking care of kids you didn’t know existed)

by theantepenultimateriddle



Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: Gen, Modern AU, artoria adopts them, domestic AU, implied child abuse from morgan (none in story)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:41:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25046317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theantepenultimateriddle/pseuds/theantepenultimateriddle
Summary: Artoria isn’t suited to raising children, but between her and Morgan there’s no question about who would be worse. And besides, they clearly have nowhere else to go. (A short piece of a modern AU of Artoria adopting the Orkney siblings.)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 81





	Impromptu Adoption For Dummies (a guide to taking care of kids you didn’t know existed)

When Artoria opens the door, there are four children standing outside it.

To be precise, there are three children standing— a tall, dark-haired one as skinny as a rake, a shorter, stockier child with dirty blonde hair hiding behind him, and a third child with brighter blonde hair bouncing with excitement next to them both— and one being held, a toddler fast asleep in the arms of the dark-haired one, who looks up at Artoria with eyes that seem older than they should be.

“You’re Mordred’s parent, and that means you need to help us.”

The first thought Artoria has is, _what does he mean, “Mordred’s parent”?_

The second thought is that the third child, with his bright hair and green eyes and pointy nose, looks an awful lot like her.

Her body feels numb as she stands speechless for a moment, and then the boy’s shoulders slump in defeat and he starts to turn away. Without thinking she reaches out and puts a hand on his shoulder. “Wait. You can come in.”

He looks at her again, and there’s a bit of a spark in his too-old eyes that wasn’t there before. He doesn’t ask any questions, just hefts the toddler in his arms and walks in, the other two following close behind. The one that looks like her— Mordred?— walks with a weaving gait, like he’s having a hard time keeping his balance. He stops in the doorway and beams at her before his other brother grabs his hand and pulls him in.

Artoria shuts the door behind herself, then turns to the kids, who are standing in the hallway as if waiting for something from her. She opens her mouth, then shuts it, then opens it again. “And who is your mother?”

The oldest starts to answer, but his slightly younger brother cuts him off. “You aren’t going to give us back to her, are you?”

“Shh, Gawain,” says the older one, his tone more biting than the comment may have warranted. He turns back to Artoria, clutching his youngest sibling even closer to his chest, hugging her with both arms. “Her name is Morgan,” he says, and a chill runs down Artoria’s spine as the pieces click into place.

_Morgan. Morgan, a mother. Morgan, a mother of four children, including one that’s— mine._

The decision is easy to make. She’s never considered herself someone who would be a good parent, but if _Morgan_ is their mother… she can’t possibly be worse.

“No,” Artoria says. “No, I won’t be taking you back to her.”

And just like that, Artoria has four kids.

—

The first person she calls, as soon as the oldest boy— Agravain, he said his name was— had taken his siblings to the kitchen for lunch, is Merlin. The line rings for an agonizingly long time as she prays for him to pick up, and to her great relief he finally, finally does. “Heyyy, what’s up?”

“What’s up is that I have kids.”

There’s a pause. Then: “Kids, plural? Wow, didn’t know you were getting that much action. So what, gotta pay child support or something?”

Artoria hisses in annoyance, then lowers her voice and begins to talk in clipped words. “No, you idiot, only one of them is biological, I _think_. Do you recall Morgan?”

“That bitch? How could I forget?” Merlin pauses, and then there’s a sharp intake of breath. “No way, you hit that?”

“It was years ago and a mistake I wanted to forget, but now all her kids are here and they’re looking for a way out.”

“So are you gonna—“

“I’m going to adopt them, yes, but I don’t know what I’m doing and I would _very much appreciate some assistance.”_

“I’ll be right over,” Merlin says. He sounds more serious now, and she appreciates it. “Call Bedivere, too. He’s good with kids, I think.”

“He doesn’t have any kids—“

“You don’t have to have kids to be good with them! And listen, three heads are better than two. Just get him over there.”

From the kitchen, Artoria hears the microwave start and then sputter, and then Agravain’s annoyed voice telling off one of the others. _You can’t put a spoon in the microwave! It causes fire!_

She groans. “I’ll call Bedivere, but you’d both better hurry over before my house burns down.”

**Author's Note:**

> This post is on tumblr, too, at https://captain-lovelace.tumblr.com/post/616757451609489408/when-artoria-opens-the-door-there-are-four. I posted it on AO3 because I like having backups of my work (and this is for some reason a very hard post to search for on my blog).


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